Watching the Gills....
- Thread starter Brexiteer
- Start date
NWBluesFan
Vital Squad Member
Nice thread.
GillsBluenose
Vital Football Hero
More like going to the dentists every week and turning down all anesthetic.
NathanH_GFC
Vital 1st Team Regular
And keep going back paying for more.
(Some of us are young enough to still have to pay!).
londongills
Vital Reserves Team
Is (almost) never dull!
The Holy Spirit
Vital Squad Member
Mostly has been the past 3 season tbh
alex_farrells_left_peg
Vital Squad Member
I watched the first half and went downstairs to get something to drink and my wife asked how it was going. Told her and also said I would not be watching the second half however, once I got back to the PC I changed my mind because it was the last game of the season and I wouldn't see them for at least 3 months. To say I am glad I did is an underestimation because the game turned on its head and we were unlucky not to take all three points.
It has been a season of ups and downs and I was often morose after having seen us lose to teams we should have been beating and, worse still, seemingly not being able to show enough courage to fight for the points. Anyhoo.... it's done and dusted and the silly season is about to begin. Well done to the guys and gals who went to the away games, well done to all who only went to the home games and well done to all the iFollow supporters who, like me at times, suffered in solitude of their own homes. Take care all, and if we play Como again, see you once more in Italy. Stay safe !
It has been a season of ups and downs and I was often morose after having seen us lose to teams we should have been beating and, worse still, seemingly not being able to show enough courage to fight for the points. Anyhoo.... it's done and dusted and the silly season is about to begin. Well done to the guys and gals who went to the away games, well done to all who only went to the home games and well done to all the iFollow supporters who, like me at times, suffered in solitude of their own homes. Take care all, and if we play Como again, see you once more in Italy. Stay safe !
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LancsGordoRoad
Vital Champions League
More likely Chelmo than Como .....
SE1_Gills
Vital 1st Team Regular
Won't be going there, khazi!
cymrugills
Vital Youth Team
FFS we came 12th after being on the absolute brink last season. The sky isn't falling. Some people need to go outside
It's raining!!
alex_farrells_left_peg
Vital Squad Member
Quite probably mate!
alex_farrells_left_peg
Vital Squad Member
I agree with you up to a point Cymru although, to be fair to those who are unhappy with how the league turned out, we did not show anything like the form we had in the second half of last season an unfortunately, when you compare all the stats alongside eachother it is not unreasonable to think we should have done better.
22/23 season P46 W14 D13 L19 F36 A49 GD -13 points 55 final position 17
23/24 season P46 W18 D10 L18 F46 A57 GD -11 points 64 final position 12
Looking at our results for the second half of last season, we one of the best in the league and that created a great deal of optimism in the fan base. The team fought for every point and that was appreciated by all connected to the club (both staff and supporters) but let's be honest about it, the first half of the season was absolute dros.
Yes, this season we finished 5 places further up the league but looking again at the stats, we won only 2 games more, scored only 10 goals more than last year and the goal difference was just -2, all of which do not translate to a successful campaign. The goals against tally of 57 this year was good, only 5 other teams shipped in less, with the promoted clubs being 3 of the 5 Pretty good when you think about it but here it comes, we only scored 46 which was the second lowest, with only FGR scoring less and that is shameful.
If I were to give the season school report mark - it would be a C-, must do better. I have said elsewhere that we flattered to deceive, and that is how the season will go down in my memory.
Getting rid of Harris and appointing Clemence half way through the season was not helpful to the cause but I think most of the fanbase will agree that with Harris at the helm, the form was only going to get worse. Clemence, for all his inexperience, did manage to steady the boat but was unable to bring any real sort of consistancy to a team which had us looking like world beaters one game only for the 5 Bells Sunday league team to turn up the next time (sometimes in the second half of the same game).
For me, it has been a disappointing season but being the eternal optimist I am with this club, I am going to be eagerly watching the summer recruitment and departures and assume that the former will be a lot better than the latter.
Chin up mate..... this time next year....... (unashamedly stolen from Delboy).
NWBluesFan
Vital Squad Member
I want to address this as it comes up a lot.
What does a good coach need experience in?
Tactical knowledge, leadership, communication, player development, adaptabilty, organisation, emotional intelligence, decision-making, probably a bit of passion/drive and the ability to learn.
To me - without knowing the guy - he certainly seems to tick a lot of these boxes. It's really reductionist of us as fans to say "Ah well, he's not stood on the line as the top dog before", not least because no modern football coaching staff works like that anyway. Robbie Stockdale, for example, will have significant input - as will SC in his many prior stops.
He's been an assistant manager at Hull, Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle and West Brom for best part of the last 10 years. As a coach - how many times do we think Stephen Clemence has sat on a football bench where he was a key part of the input/decision making & football process?
Inexperience? Possibly being the primary voice for media. But he's not here for PR
Football? Not so much.
This inexperience tag is really a lazy narrative. If anything, he's the opposite.
alex_farrells_left_peg
Vital Squad Member
His inexperience is in having total responsibility for all things to do with playing staff. Yes, he has a fair bit of experience under team managers who were ultimately responsible.
Put it like this, when I learned to fly, I was in the left seat with an instructor next to me, and his being there gave me confidence to do what was needed for a safe flight and landing. Never ever felt out of my depth because I had a safety net - my instructor. During my training I often used to wonder how great it was going to be when I first went solo and looked forward to that day arriving. When it did, even though I knew I could do all of what was expected of me, I almost crapped my pants and why, because the safety net I had become used to was no longer available to me....... it was down to me that time and no-one was going to be there if I cocked it up. Thankfully, I didn't and ultimately finished my training.
I see a similarity there with Clemence. I am utterly convinced he has a good footballing brain, gets on well with the players and owners but, and it is a BUT, when things go wrong the fans will be braying for his head on a platter. Could be he loses the changing room and probably the owners will have their say in matters as well. How he reacts then will determine whether he is the man for the job.
I am not a Clemence knocker, I like the man and I think, given the right tools, he will do a good job for us. Yes, the summer signings are going to be critical but don't forget, he had the january sales as well and that didn't really set the world on fire although it looks like Josh Andrews has the potential to become the new Eaves.
I hope truly he shines in his work because if he does, then the owners, the team and the fans will all profit by it.
Oh, by the way, I hope this knocks the "lazy narrative" on the head.
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PhilK66
Vital 1st Team Regular
Disagree. It's his complete inexperience of coaching lower level players combined with, at times, very bad tactical decisions in games. I wasn't a big fan of NH but now wish he was still here.
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GillsBluenose
Vital Football Hero
So dropping 4 places below the lowest we had been under Harris, as well as the goal difference getting worse by 9 goals and dropping 21 further points below the automatic spots, is steadying the boat?
Clemence was clearly brought in to improve the entertainment and maybe quality of the football and that takes time which he looks like being given. If he was judged purely on points and the form of the team, he would be in more trouble. So far he has not even materially improved the scoring rate.
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NWBluesFan
Vital Squad Member
Go on Phil. Which decisions did you not like?
shotshy
Vital Champions League
As I said on yesterday’s match thread, a bizarre management decision was to introduce Walker when Gbode was on the bench.
Ok, big Joe came on later and nearly nicked it, but that’s not the point.
Wtf is Gills manager doing prioritising a poor performing loan player who is never going to play for us again over our own youngsters.
I’d have put Sithole on the bench over Walker.
